I finally got my vehicle situation back in order, so on with the show.

Here are pics of some lightweight projects I recently completed...

My Boy's CRF80 that we bought used was missing the chainguard. I took a piece of the 1/8" 3003 aluminum scrap I had left from making my KLR bashplate and went to work.

I cut the overall length and height with the plasma. Then I made the bend in my home made brake. Then I made a cut with the bandsaw down the bend about 3" from the front. Then I bent that piece inward to match the taper of the swingarm. I then used the spoolgun with .035 4043 wire and pure argon and migged the inner and outer of the cut and ground everything smooth with a 80 grit flap disc. The rear radius at the sprocket was cut with the plasma by tracing around a metal coffee can that I had full of bolts. The very end was freehanded with the plasma. I used a hand file and a grinder to finesse the final shape. The entire project took half an hour.

When my little buddy got off the school bus, he noticed it right away! That's my boy!

My right bag was getting exhaust soot all over it, so I decided to extend the tip. I had already gutted some of the can many miles ago, and I had installed an aluminum end cap with screws. I took off the cap, and then I used a piece of 2" E.M.T. (electrical conduit) to attach to the can. I found a scrap piece with a 30 degree bend in it in a bonepile at work. I didn't have stainless filler wire or tri-mix gas for my MIG, so I had to use my TIG. Using pure argon, a .040, 2% ceriated tungsten, and 1/16", 308L stainless filler wire, I was able to weld the mild steel conduit to the stainless steel can.

I really have no idea of what I am doing when it comes to TIG, but I was able to manipulate the puddle and the heat to get good fusion without blowing through. I also TIGged the holes shut from the endcap I had installed. I originally tried a 1/16" tungsten, but it was too much heat. That's when I dropped down to .040 and set the machine at 30 amps.

No stack of dimes here. I need practice for that. The grinder once again makes it look like I know what I'm doing. A trip to AutoZone for a rattlecan of high heat ceramic paint, and we're back in business. You can see where I masked off the new work. It will look as grungy as the rest of the can in time.

Now I can officially say that I have used my TIG. The advantage of the TIG is being able to use straight argon on pretty much all metals whereas the MIG needs 3 different gases for mild steel, aluminum, or stainless.

My idea for a wheel vise for my home made lift includes this trailer jack that I had in my building. I was hoping to use it as-is, but it's too long and bulky for that. I will have to dissect it to make it do what I want it to do. That may have to wait. The simple little chock I have on the lift currently is actually working well, plus it allows me to turn the handlebars, which you have to do sometimes to get to different fasteners. A clamp won't allow that to happen.

I'm still saving my pennies for the JD Squared model 32. In time, grasshopper.

People rag on us KLRistas, but having that bike allows all these other things to happen. I do miss my V-Strom, but if I get good enough with fabrication, maybe I can pick up a nice, used one down the road. Only time will tell.

I need to look into the local CC and see if I can audit/'sit in' on some welding classes, as another member suggested in the other welding thread here. Otherwise it's 7-9 credit hours @ 158.25 per for a MIG cert. That adds up, and it's a lot of time...but then a lot of time and repetition under the guidance of instructors is not bad, either.

I should really work on my friend who builds bike frames...he works with steel, aluminum, ti, and carbon...scandium too. His time is limited though...he's not getting rich doing it, but it sure seems to keep him busy and he turns out some beautiful stuff.

Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm a firm believer of that. Get the ball rolling and you will surprise yourself.

I find that making things, especially useful ones, is very theraputic. It's never too late to learn new things.

It's also pretty exciting to have new projects to work on. Plus, if using scrap, if you screw up, who cares? It was already scrap!

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Thanks

__________________Livin' on the road, my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean...

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Thanks

move in. Insure it to the max. do some wrench'n. spill some oil,gasoline, anything else flamable you can think of. then do a lot of welding with total disreguard for where the sparks are going. hide the welding machine before the ins. adjuster gets there and let the ins. co. build you a new shop with a concrete floor............wood floors and welding is begging for disaster no matter how well protected you think the floor is.

__________________
The basic question of politics is "Who does what to Whom?". -Vlademir Lenin.

"Politicians are always interested in people.
Not that this is always a virtue.
Fleas are interested in dogs." -P.J.O'Rourke

The JD Squared Model 32 finally shows up. I bought the bender from an ebay vendor, and 5/8" DOM, 2 1/4" centerline dies from another ebay vendor. I chose the mechanical version because it's about 25% of the cost of the full hydraulic setup, and I don't need hydraulics for bending 5/8" tube. The extension handle is reversed in the ratchet arm for storage in the above shot.

I made the above shown bracket to bolt onto the bending arm. You do not use the ratchet mechanism at all on 5/8" tube, and the instructions say to wedge the extension handle in the end 2) 3/4" bolts to bend small tube. Personally, I thought that was a bit cheesy, so that's why I made the bracket. Now the handle can attach to either arm with a spring pin and still store in the other arm when not in use.

Above: I made the pedestal mount with narrow 1/4" plate, and the scrap from what I cut out of the end of the base from the wheelchair / low buck bike lift. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but form should always follow function. I don't like wasting things in case you couldn't already tell. You can see where I tacked the 1/4" plate first so I could drill mounting holes in the drillpress. Then I welded a full bead around the square tube. I was going to box the ends of the square tube with plate, but the open hole is great for tweaking a bend on small tube if a degree or two over or under bent.

I tried buying mild steel, 5/8" DOM, .065 wall tube locally, but nobody stocks it. The guy told me he could order it, but so can I. I should have called first and just paid over the phone. Next time, that's what I'll do. I ordered some tube on ebay.

While waiting on tube, the above photo shows a scrap shelf that came from a rack that was destined for the dump. It's fairly heavy 18 ga. mild steel. My sis-in-law wanted me to haul the rack to the dump, but surprise, surprise, it goes in my scrap bin. I have 7 shelves this size, and about 40 feet of small angle after disassembling everything.

I broke out the plasma cutter and cut off the factory bent flanges. What you see on the floor is scrap left from one shelf after making the next photo...

Deeze! I was going to buy a sheet of aluminum, but why? This was FREE!!! I made them a bit smaller than the bags on the KLR and used the same process shown pages earlier. It took one shelf to make each bag. I still need to make the lids. The latch hardware just showed up. (ebay)

I just did a series of tack welds upon one another similar to the TIG process.

The tubing finally shows up after 2 weeks of waiting. I bought it in 3' lengths, which wasn't a big concern to me with the small scale job. I bought 21' and shipped was a bit over $40. Again, I will plan ahead and buy locally next time. No biggie.

I made the hoops 14" wide x 10" tall. Figuring the take up and gain on the bender was easy. I measured the overall length of the tube first. Then I loaded a piece of tube into the die and tightened the setscrew with the tube at the very end of the die. I then made a stub 90. Take the tube out of the bender, measure the stub and the leg of the 90. Add both measurements. Deduct the original length from the combined stub and leg figure. This is your gain. The takeup (the length needed for a 90) is the stub length - just make sure to line the tube up in the same place every time. After making the very first 90, I had all the info needed to make a back-to-back 90 to the exact size I needed. Luckily, all my "learnin' " from bending electrical conduit transferred to tube bending. I figured it would be pretty much the same, and it is.

The JD2 made some pretty, wrinkle free bands. Overkill for 5/8", I know, but this bender will get some heavier use in the future.
I'm already looking at 1 3/4" dies for a possible sidehack project.

So that's it for now. I'll take some more progress photos later when I start fabbing the rack mounts.

My kids like riding with me, so I always want the rear pegs functional and not blocked by the bags. With that in mind, I tape a boot in place for measuring purposes.

I plumb off the heel of the boot and stick another piece of tape on the bike.

I measure over an inch for clearance to the bag, then another inch to the edge of the hoop.

I mark where I want the top of the hoop with yet more tape, then hold the hoop in place while eyeballing a measurement. I bend a stub 90, and cut both ends where I need it to be. This pic shows everything already tacked together.

The above pic shows drilling the tube for a "fish mouth" to make a solid joint.

The bottom mount is a chrome spacer I had left from a chopper I built several years ago. I ground off the chrome and drilled out the inside to accept an allen bolt.

L side complete.

Once one side is complete, the other side is a snap. Measure off what you did on the other side. The above pic shows a segment bend I made to match the contour of the R plastic.

Using a straight edge to line up the tab for the rear support.

Both tabs tacked in place.

Using a carpentry tool used to duplicate angles.

Transferring the angle to the tube by eyeballing it.

Rear support notched and tacked in place.

Mock-up complete. Now I need to disassemble and final weld everything, and shape the tabs better.

Buying in 3' lengths wasn't as wasteful as I thought. I have 2) full 3' pieces left, and a piece over 2' left. So I guess I used about 16' total.